Offshore: Offshore Digest

Warwick Energy, a UK offshore wind developer, has applied for government
consent to build a 560 MW project at Dudgeon off the coast of Norfolk in
eastern England. Up to 168 wind turbines are planned for a 35 square
kilometre site, with the nearest machine to shore being located 32
kilometres north of the town of Cromer. Later this year, Warwick is to
apply to the local planning authority for permits for the onshore cable
route and substation. Subject to receiving consents, Warwick says the
£1 billion project could begin generating in late 2013. Warwick
developed the 90 MW Barrow offshore wind farm operating since 2006, and
the 300 MW Thanet offshore project, currently in construction. Both use
Vestas 3 MW turbines.

A 100 MW wind power project off the coast of France is under study by
Neoen, the dedicated renewables arm of Direct Energie, a French producer
and supplier of electricity. Neoen was set up last year and the project
is in early-stage development, says Neoen's Philippe Dechelotte. The
study is looking at an area between seven and ten kilometres off
Boulogne-sur-Mer on the English Channel coast, but the exact location
will only be decided following a public consultation process, which will
take up to 12 months. Neoen is also looking at two other offshore sites,
but declines to give further details. The company owns 16.5 MW of
operating onshore wind capacity, which it bought last year, and has over
100 MW under development. It is also looking for opportunities to buy
projects or project portfolios that have come on the market as a result
of the global financial crisis. Its goal is to operate 300 MW of
installed wind power by 2013.

Transformer on site

The German Bard Group's 400 MW Bard Offshore 1 wind farm, slated for
commissioning this autumn, has reached a significant milestone, with the
platform carrying the offshore transformer station for the project
transported to the site in the North Sea in June. Two high-voltage
direct-current cables will be laid this summer, says E.ON subsidiary
Transpower Stromubertragung, which is responsible for the high voltage
network. The wind farm's output is being sent to an onshore transformer
station at Diele near Papenburg, some 200 kilometres away. The platform
is 52 metres by 35 metres and stands 21 metres high. This is the first
plant of its kind with these dimensions, says Constantijn Steinhusen,
head of the project. Setting the 3200 tonne platform on the jacket
foundation construction has required the use of the biggest floating
crane in the world, known as Thialf.

Financial advice

Bard Holding has chosen a trio of banks to advise it on structuring the
project finance for its 400 MW Veja Mate offshore wind project. The
banks are Dexia Credit Local, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, and
Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank. The wind farm is slated
for a site 90 kilometres north of the island of Borkum in the German
exclusive economic zone of the North Sea. It does not yet have a
construction permit.

Foundations laid

The tripod foundations for six Areva Multibrid 5 MW turbines have been
laid at Germany's Alpha Ventus 60 MW offshore test station. The
foundations, each weighing 700 tonnes, have been anchored on the seabed
at the site 45 kilometres off the coast of the island of Borkum. The
next step is construction of the individual sections of the towers.
"This is the first time tripods have been used as foundations for
offshore wind turbines. It is an international premiere," says Wilfried
Hube, overall project leader of Alpha Ventus, which is owned by energy
companies EWE and E.ON of Germany and Sweden's Vattenfall. Preparations
for laying the other six foundations at the site, for Repower Systems 5
MW machines, have also begun, says the Alpha Ventus project company,
Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld und Infrastruktur Gesellschaft.

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